Neffos C5 Series includes three products in the budget segment from VND2 million -3 million (US$90 – 135). All three products are designed to connect with 4G at data transfer speed of 150Mbps. They all have a high-quality camera.

The smartphone is available in 18 markets in TP-LINK’s 48 markets around the world.

ANFC, which involved charging airlines that fly into Malaysian airspace by nautical mile, have not been revised since 1970.

DCA operates yearly with a 250 million ringgit (US$64.06 million) budget but only makes 50 million ringgit from its fees. The remaining 200 million ringgit is subsidised by the government.

In return, DCA would further improve its services for the airlines, by cutting down on waiting time in the skies and allowing them to choose their routes, which could save them fuel.

“It’s a win-win situation,” he told reporters before a dinner with members of the Institution of Engineers Malaysia in Bandar Sunway yesterday.

The airlines, said Liow, would know what year and what time the fees would go up so “they can plan for it”.

On whether airfares were expected to go up in tandem with the DCA fee hike, Liow said: “It’s only a one-fold increase. There shouldn’t be any hike in airfares. I think it won’t have much impact on the fares.”

He noted that there were many factors that affected ticket prices, like fuel cost and supply and demand.

“It’s not one factor that causes airlines to up their fares,” he added.

Earlier in George Town, Liow said the federal authorities were hoping that the Penang government would cooperate towards the expansion of the Swettenham Pier Cruise Terminal.

“The port is important as it can attract a lot of cruises and tourism.

“We hope the state could provide us with the land,” he told a press conference after meeting Penang MCA leaders.

He added that there was a need to strengthen the Penang Port to be part of the national port alliance with China.

He said the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement would ensure the continued growth of the Malaysian economy.

(US$1 = 3.90 ringgit)

Freme’s marketing officer Faith Leong said the new website – http://www.uk.freme.com/the-lodge- aims to attract UK visitors who want to escape the busy city lifestyle.

She said Freme is currently promoting its backpackers package on the website and social media.

“We want to cater for UK backpackers and solo travellers,” Leong said.

She said Freme hopes the UK website will also attract travellers from other European countries who want to explore the Bruneian rainforest.

According to the website, backpackers are given the option to choose at either staying in a dormitory (22 pounds a night) or in a private double room (26 pounds a night). Both rooms are fully air conditioned and guests are provided with bedding and towels.

Leong said UK travellers are advised to contact Freme upon their arrivals to Brunei. The easiest route is taking a water taxi from the Kianggeh Jetty in Bandar Seri Begawan.

The website also features a range of Temburong adventure packages for travellers in transit.

Speaking at the seminar titled “TPP: opportunity and challenge for financial industry and Vietnamese enterprises’ business development”, he said, “Greater participation of foreign investors will help the industry strengthen its resources, technology and management as well as to expand co-operation.”

His deputy Ngo Chung Khanh said “The TPP is a new model for regional economic co-operation, and creates the most favourable conditions for trade and investment.”

But he also warned that competition would increase significantly with respect to certain products.

“Domestic enterprises must compete for capital and human resources with foreign investors and, if they want to join the supply chains, improve their management and technologies.”

They should know what Vietnam’s obligations are, change their mindset in the new scenario, make long-term business plans, improve their competitiveness and seek co-operation with international partners to join global supply chains, he said.

Vu Minh Chau of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)’s International Co-operation Department spoke about Vietnam’s TPP obligations.

“TPP members are committed to retaining existing policies. In case of amendments, freer ones will be allowed.” She was referring to the fact that any changes in commercial policies mean they have to be loosened in favour of foreign entities and not tightened.

“The TPP stipulates that members have to offer national treatment to financial organisations, meaning they cannot discriminate between local and foreign ones,” she said.

“Vietnam will open its market to electronic payments through credit cards without any restrictions on the number of card companies.

“Foreign credit institutions can set up representative offices, branches of foreign banks, joint venture banks and banks with 100 per cent foreign capital more easily.

“The SBV must have a comprehensive legal framework to be in line with the TPP.”

She added that the challenges faced by local banks were “limited financial products, poor governance, and middling risk management.”

During last week’s COE tender, Uber-owned Lion City Rental submitted more than 800 bids, which accounted for 11 per cent of the total bids made for car COEs.

According to market talk, Lion City is looking to put 1,800 new cars on the road in anticipation of growing demand.

Rival company Grab is also expected to do the same.

The two already have between them some 10,000 cars – mostly old vehicles.

But in recent months, both have started sourcing for new vehicles, and are jostling with private car owners for fresh COEs.

Now, with the government announcing “light touch” regulations governing third-party taxi apps, the proliferation of private-hire vehicles will accelerate.

Most of the taxi companies are also starting up private-hire subsidiaries to compete with Uber, Grab and other small players like Smove and Tribecar.

This will only intensify the competition for COEs, which explains why car premiums have not fallen in tandem with the growth in supply.

If the demand for private-hire services continues to grow, taxi operators are likely to shrink their cab fleets and switch. Again, this will fuel demand for COEs.

Most private-hire cars are smaller vehicles, so the pressure will be greater on COE Category A bidders (cars up to 1,600cc and 130bhp).

But some are gunning for Open Category too, such as Lion City.

At the last tender, more than 200 of the company’s Open bids were disqualified because they had identical values, which sources said was a move to manipulate the market.

The Land Transport Authority said: “As there were more than 237 bids with the same next lower bid amount, awarding the COE to all these bids would exceed the quota. The 237 unallocated COEs will be carried over to the first open bidding exercise in May 2016.”

Uber was not reachable for comment.

Car-Sharing Association (Singapore) president Lai Meng said: “The fast growth in the private-hire car services like Uber and Grab is a validation of the sharing economy.”

“The project cancellation is expected to improve the overall returns of Petronas Chemicals’ investments,” it said.

“The cancellation of the elastomers project will result in capacity reduction of 0.35 million mtpa and projected investment cost by US$1.3 billion,” it said.

It said it remained committed to the rest of the petrochemical projects that it had undertaken, namely the polymers and glycols projects.

The cancellation of the elastomers project is not expected to have any impact on the commencement date for PRPC Polymers Sdn Bhd and PRPC Glycols Sdn Bhd which is scheduled to start in 2019.

They were reacting to Tuesday’s announcement that the government plans to regulate the private hire sector through the licensing of drivers and registration of vehicles. It did not mention insurance needs.

Generally, basic motor vehicle insurance policies cover third-party liability such as damage to other vehicles involved in an accident, injuries to their drivers and passengers, as well as injuries to the policyholder’s passengers. They do not cover the policy holder.

However the exact level of coverage can differ between policies.

The National Taxi Association has called for standardisation of coverage for the private hire sector. Straits Times readers have also written in asking whether they are covered by insurance when they take Uber and GrabCar rides.

Derek Teo, chief executive of the General Insurance Association, said: “If they are providing a service to the public, they have a responsibility to ensure that the safety of passengers is being addressed, including any possible liability.”

Asked what policies they sold to Uber and GrabCar drivers or their fleet owners, insurers Aviva, AXA, Great Eastern and Prudential all declined to comment.

NTUC Income’s vice-president for motor insurance Peh Chee Keong said it insures Uber and GrabCar vehicles under its private car policy.

In general, for a third-party-only policy, premiums are about S$1,500 (US$1,100) annually before any no-claims discount. Under this, passengers can make a claim against the private hire car driver’s insurer, if the driver is at fault in an accident.

Peh said NTUC Income offers a comprehensive policy at an annual S$2,100, which offers personal accident benefits of up to S$10,000 per passenger, and medical benefits of up to S$300 per passenger.

He said: “Passengers who suffer from injuries as a result of a motor accident can claim personal accident benefits by writing to the insurer and attaching the relevant medical reports.”

Lim Kell Jay, head of Grab Singapore, said commercial insurance coverage for private hire vehicles “is subject to proof of liability and excess charges”, adding: “Some drivers may choose to cover third- party only, which is commonly the case.”

Lim said GrabCar offers a free additional layer of coverage on top of commercial insurance for all rides through an AXA personal accident insurance policy.

He said both driver and passenger are covered in the event of accidents from the first dollar – regardless of who is at fault. In Singapore, the policy will sponsor total personal accident benefits for the driver or passenger up to US$250,000 (S$338,000) per vehicle.

Uber Singapore general manager Warren Tseng said in the event of an accident, passengers can claim against the driver’s compulsory insurance. Meanwhile, both Uber and GrabCar have lowered the minimum age for drivers to 21, from 25 and 22 respectively.

The SAV said the audits would focus on financial reporting, spending on investments in projects, management of the air transport’s service prices and an evaluation on the effects of management and use of capital and the State’s assets.

In 2015, Vietnam Airlines conducted more than 127,500 flights, representing a year-on-year increase of 3.5 per cent. The flights carried 17.4 millions of passengers, 4.8 per cent higher than its target.